1. Field of the Invention
The illustrative embodiments relate to a game system and a storage medium having stored thereon a game program. More particularly, the illustrative embodiments relate to a game system in which a plurality of player characters, controlled by a plurality of players, respectively, move around in a game space, and a game image, containing all the player characters, is displayed, and to a storage medium having stored thereon a game program.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, game systems are available, in which the game proceeds with a plurality of characters moving around in a game space. In some of such game systems, a game image, which contains all the player characters, is displayed on a display means, such as a TV monitor. A description is given, for example, in “Nintendo Official Guidebook, Nintendo All Stars! Super Smash Brothers,” Shogakukan Inc., Mar. 20, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as a conventional technique). In the aforementioned conventional technique, when the distances between a plurality of player characters are increased, the camera is zoomed out, for example, so that all the player characters can be displayed on a TV monitor or the like at the same time.
According to the display method of the aforementioned conventional technique, when the distances between a plurality of player characters are increased and the player characters are scattered around in the game space, the virtual camera performs a zoom-out process so that all the player character scan be displayed on a TV monitor or the like. In this case, game object images (e.g., images of the player characters and other objects) become relatively small, which may cause the players to experience difficulty in viewing the player characters and other objects.
Therefore, a feature of the illustrative embodiments is to provide a game system in which a plurality of players control a plurality of characters, respectively, for displaying a game image which contains all the player characters, and overcoming a situation in which the players experience difficulty in viewing images of game objects, such as images of the player characters. Another feature of the illustrative embodiments is to provide a storage medium having stored thereon a game program.
The illustrative embodiments have the following aspects to attain the features mentioned above. It is to be understood that reference numerals, etc. in parentheses are provided, for the purpose of helping to understand the present invention, to show the corresponding relationship with an embodiment, as will be described later, and thus are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
A first aspect of the illustrative embodiments is directed to a game system (a game system 1) wherein a plurality of player characters (player characters 110a to 110d), controlled by a plurality of players, respectively, move around in a virtual game space. The game system comprises: a plurality of operation means (controllers 6a to 6d); movement control means (a CPU 31 that performs S5; in cases where the CPU 31 performs processing, simply only the step number will be provided hereinbelow); first-image creation means (S15 and S17); second-image creation means (S21 and S23); and game image output means (S25). The plurality of operation means are operated by the plurality of players, respectively. The movement control means controls movement of the player characters in the game space according to a first operation of the operation means (an operation of a cross key 67). The first-image creation means creates a first image (a first image 150 in FIG. 12) of a displayed region (a displayed region 140 in FIG. 5) of the game space which contains all of the player characters. The second-image creation means creates a second image (a second image 180 in FIG. 15) by zooming in on a surrounding region of a first player character (a cut-out region 160 in FIG. 13) in the game space, when a second operation of the operation means (an operation of an A button 62) has been performed by one of the players, the first player character being one of the player characters controlled by the one player. The game image output means outputs the first image as a game image, when the second operation of the operation means has not been performed by any of the players, or superimposes the second image on the first image and outputs as a game image, when the second operation of the operation means has been performed by any one of the players.
With the above-described game system, when a player performs a second operation, not only is a first image constantly displayed, but a second image is also appropriately superimposed on the first image and displayed, in which the surrounding area of a player character controlled by the player is zoomed in. Therefore, it is possible to rectify a situation in which the players experience difficulty in viewing images of, for example, the player characters, by displaying a game image containing all of the player characters in the first image, and displaying the second image if necessary. In addition, because the region surrounding the player character is displayed zoomed in, not only is an image of the player character displayed zoomed in, but also an image of the area surrounding the player character is displayed zoomed in, which enables the player to clearly see the circumstances surrounding the player character thereof; that is, the player can see the detailed circumstances, for example, if an item is dropped nearby or if an enemy character is around. Furthermore, because the first image is a game image that contains all the player characters, other players can also closely watch the first image during the game. In addition, because the second image is superimposed on the first image, the second image, which is a zoomed-in image of the area surrounding the player character, is also shown to other players. Therefore, when a player performs the second operation, the player can inform other players of the circumstances surrounding the player character thereof; for example, if a player finds an important item for other players, which is dropped near the player character thereof, the player can clearly inform the other players of such circumstances.
The above-described first-image creation means may create the first image in a manner such that a size of the displayed region is varied based on a scattering of the player characters moved by the movement control means and an image of the displayed region is zoomed in or out in accordance with the size of the displayed region. In this case, when the distances between the player characters are increased and the player characters are scattered around in the game space due to movement of the player characters, a zoom-out process is performed; therefore, even if images of the player characters, etc. become small on the game screen, it becomes possible for the player to see the image of the player character and the surrounding circumstances of the player character when a player performs the second operation.
Moreover, the above-described game image output means may superimpose the second image on the first image, in accordance with a location of the first player character in the first image (a location 200 in FIG. 16). The second image is displayed superimposed on the first image, in accordance with the display location of the player character in the first image which is constantly displayed; that is, the display location of the second image indicates the display location of the player character in the first image, and therefore the location of the player character is clearly indicated. In addition, the second image is superimposed at the display location of the player character in the first image; in other words, a zoomed-in image of the player character is displayed at the location where the player character is originally displayed, preventing awkwardness in the game play. Further, when the second image is superimposed on the first image, a part of the first image cannot be displayed; however, the part of the first image which cannot be displayed because of the second image being superimposed, is complemented by the second image itself, and therefore it is possible to minimize reduction of information provided to the player. Moreover, when, for example, a player has lost sight of the player character thereof, the player can clearly identify the location where the player character thereof is present, and it also becomes possible to show other players the location where the player character of the player is present.
The surrounding region which is displayed in the second image may be a region having the first player character in a center and may be a predetermined size region in the game space. In this case, the circumstances surrounding the player character are displayed in the second image, the area of which has a predetermined size in the game space, and thus the player can always obtain a certain amount of information.
The second image may be displayed on a display means in a predetermined size, the display means displaying a game image output by the game image output means. In this case, because the second image is displayed on a display means in a predetermined size, the first image is not excessively hidden by the second image. In addition, it is possible to display an image without awkwardness.
The above-described second-image creation means may create the second image by cutting out and zooming in on a portion of the first image created by the first-image creation means. Since the first image is utilized when creating the second image, efficient processing is achieved.
A second aspect of the illustrative embodiments is directed to a storage medium having stored thereon a game program to be executed by a game system, the storage medium being readable by the game system comprising a plurality of operation means operated by a plurality of players, respectively, wherein a plurality of player characters move around in a virtual game space, controlled by the plurality of players, respectively. The game program provides functions to the game system, the functions comprising movement control means, first-image creation means, second-image creation means, and game image output means. The movement control means controls movement of the player characters in the game space according to a first operation of the operation means. The first-image creation means creates a first image of a displayed region of the game space which contains all of the player characters. The second-image creation means creates a second image by zooming in on a surrounding region of a first player character in the game space, when a second operation of the operation means has been performed by one of the players, the first player character being one of the player characters controlled by the one player. The game image output means outputs the first image as a game image, when the second operation of the operation means has not been performed by any of the players, or superimposes, when the second operation of the operation means has been performed by any one of the players, the second image on the first image as an output game image.
According to the above-described storage medium, even if a storage medium has stored thereon a game program which is executed by a game system and is readable by the game system, the same advantageous effects as those achieved by the above-described game system of the illustrative embodiments can be achieved.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.